Science Ice Cream Recipes

Liquid Nitrogen, Dry Ice and More Ice Cream Recipes

Making ice cream is great way to enjoy a tasty treat, plus it involves several chemistry and other science concepts. Here's a collection of easy and fun science ice cream recipes, including classic liquid nitrogen ice cream, homemade Dippin' Dots, dry ice ice cream and more.

Homemade Dippin' Dots Ice Cream

Dippin' Dots Ice Cream is made by cryogenically freezing ice cream into little balls.
Dippin' Dots Ice Cream is made by cryogenically freezing ice cream into little balls. RadioActive, public domain

Dippin' Dots are another type of flash-frozen ice cream. If you have liquid nitrogen, this is another fun and easy ice cream project to try.

Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream Recipe

You should wear insulated gloves when you mix liquid nitrogen ice cream!
You should wear insulated gloves when you mix liquid nitrogen ice cream!. Nicolas George

project. The nitrogen instantly chills the ice cream, but is not an actual ingredient. It boils away harmlessly into the air, leaving you with instant ice cream.

Instant Sorbet

You can prepare sorbet instantly by chilling juice in a bag containing ice, salt and water.
You can prepare sorbet instantly by chilling the fruit juice in a bag containing ice, salt and water. Renee Comet, National Cancer Institute

You can make a flavorful, fruity sorbet just as easily as you can make ice cream. The rate of cooling impacts the consistency of the sorbet, so you can explore crystallization as well as freezing point depression.

Snow Ice Cream Recipes

This girl is catching snowflakes on her tongue.
This girl is catching snowflakes on her tongue. Somehow I think these snowflakes are fake (ick) but it's a great photo. Digital Vision, Getty Images

If you have snow, you can use it to make ice cream! Salt can be added to snow to use it to chill the ice cream via freezing point depression or you can use the snow as an ingredient in the recipe.

Carbonated Ice Cream

This chocolate ice cream is bubbly and carbonated because it was frozen using dry ice.
This chocolate ice cream is bubbly and carbonated because it was frozen using dry ice. Anne Helmenstine

it carbonates the ice cream. This produces an interesting flavor and texture that you won't get any other way.

Ice Cream in a Baggie

Ice Cream
Ice Cream. Nicholas Eveleigh, Getty Images

You can use any ice cream recipe as a basis for scientific exploration, plus you don't even need an ice cream maker or even a freezer! Freezing point depression cold enough to freeze ice cream is the result of combining salt and ice in nothing more complicated than a plastic bag.

Instant Soft Drink Slushy

Slushy
Slushy. Vladimir Koren, Creative Commons License

Supercool a soda or other soft drink to make an instant slushy. Carbonated drinks are frothy when they freeze, while sports drinks make a simple chilly slush. You control whether the drink freezes in the bottle or on-command in a glass.

Hot Maple Syrup Ice Cream

Try hot maple syrup ice cream on waffles for a fun treat.
Try hot maple syrup ice cream on waffles for a fun treat. Iain Bagwell, Getty Images

Molecular gastronomy applies principles of chemistry to prepare food in new and exciting ways. Take this ice cream recipe, for example. Have you ever had ice cream that's hot and melts as it cools? Maybe it's time to try it.

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Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph.D. "Science Ice Cream Recipes." ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/science-ice-cream-recipes-607920. Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph.D. (2023, April 5). Science Ice Cream Recipes. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/science-ice-cream-recipes-607920 Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph.D. "Science Ice Cream Recipes." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/science-ice-cream-recipes-607920 (accessed March 29, 2024).